Many current Java EE technologies, including Java Message Service 2.0 (JSR 343), Java API for RESTful Web Services 2.0 (JSR 339), Java Servlet 3.1 (JSR 340), JavaServer Faces 2.2 (JSR 344), and Contexts and Dependency Injection for Java EE 1.1 (JSR 346) received major updates. New features are explained in the tutorial. Examples were either added or updated to show how to implement and use those new features and functionality.

The entire example tree has been modernized to use Maven to build, package, deploy, and run the examples. The tutorial examples have previously been based on the Blueprints build structure and used Ant-based scripts. NetBeans 7.3.1 supports Maven and GlassFish 4.0, so our examples can be run from within the IDE or on the command line. The user community asked for Maven support, and we gave it to you.

All together, there are 60 new or updated examples!

We restructured the content to make some of the information more approachable and easier to find. There is a new part with chapters about basic platform functionality such as resource creation, injection, and packaging. We gave Messaging its own part, making it easier to find. As you read, we hope you'll notice many of the smaller improvements that should make things easier to understand.

Our basic tutorial Your First Cup: An Introduction to the Java EE Platform has also been updated for Java EE 7. The examples have been converted to Maven, use Maven archetypes to make project creation even easier, and have been updated to the new Java EE 7 APIs, including the JAX-RS Client API.